The Tangent Vector to a Curve

Let C be a space curve parametrized by the differentiable vector-valued function

r(t). At the point P0 (= r(t0 )) of C, we have the derivative (or velocity) vector
−−→
0 r(t0 +h) − r(t0 ) P0 P
v(t0 ) = r (t0 ) = lim = lim , (1)
h→0 h h→0 h

where we write P for the point r(t0 +h) on C. We give a direct geometric interpreta-
tion of this vector, assuming it is not zero. It follows from equation (1) that for small
−−→
h 6= 0, we have P 6= P0 , so that P0 P is a nonzero vector.
−−→
Theorem 2 Assume that r0 (t0 ) 6= 0. Let θ(h) be the angle between the vectors P0 P
and r0 (t0 ) (which is defined for sufficiently small h 6= 0). Then:
(a) limh→0+ θ(h) = 0;
−−→
(b) limh→0− θ(h) = π; or equivalently, the angle between P0 P and −r0 (t0 ) tends to
0 as h → 0−.
Proof The standard angle formula gives
−−→ 0
P0 P • r (t0 ) [r(t0 +h) − r(t0 )] • r0 (t0 )
cos θ(h) = −−→ =
P0 P kr0 (t0 )k kr(t0 +h) − r(t0 )kkr0 (t0 )k

We cannot take the limit directly, because we get 0/0. However, if we first divide
numerator and denominator by h and assume h > 0, we can apply equation (1)
directly (using the continuity of norms and dot products) to get

r(t0 +h) − r(t0 ) 0

• r (t0 )
h r0 (t0 ) • r0 (t0 )
cos θ(h) = −−→ =1 (3)
r(t0 +h) − r(t0 ) 0
kr0 (t0 )kkr0 (t0 )k
kr (t0 )k
h

as h → 0+. Finally, we apply the continuous function cos−1 to deduce that

θ(h) = cos−1 (cos θ(h)) −−→ cos−1 (1) = 0 as h → 0+,
as required.
If h < 0, equation (3) is off by a sign, and we get θ → cos−1 (−1) = π instead.
Geometrically, the vector r0 (t0 ) is tangent to the curve C at P0 . This leads to the
following definition.
Definition 4 The tangent line to C at P0 is the line through P0 in the direction of
the vector r0 (t0 ).
Thus its parametric equation (with parameter u) is (see (13.3.2))
R(u) = r(t0 ) + ur0 (t0 ). (5)

110.202 Calculus III JMB File: curvtgt, Revision C; 11 Feb 2000; Page 1